


Shades of Autumn

by annablack1102



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Coach Negan (Walking Dead), Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, No Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 06:39:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15989747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annablack1102/pseuds/annablack1102
Summary: Miranda convinces a very reluctant Negan to have some fall family fun to cheer up her cousin Sophia.





	Shades of Autumn

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a request by my dear friend Scarlett and turned into something more. This will be a preview to the next chapter fic that I’m working on where Sophia ends up living with her cousin, Miranda, after losing her mother, Carol. This is just a cute little one shot that is already spiraling so I hope you like it.

“What? Fuck no.” Negan made a face at Miranda’s suggestion, not looking up from the vegetables he was chopping for whatever the fuck he was planning on making for dinner. Miranda had gotten used to not asking because he wouldn’t tell her anyways. His answer was always ‘just trust me’. And if she were being honest, she did. He was an amazing cook. Which was probably the only thing Sophia liked about him, considering she was used to Miranda’s cooking that left a lot to be desired. 

 

“Seriously? It won’t be that bad. I’m not asking you to go square dancing or something ridiculous. Just...pumpkin patches and hayrides. You know, fall stuff.” Miranda said, watching as he met her gaze with a scowl.

 

“Okay, first of all I would rock square dancing. Second of all… why? Can’t we just watch a couple scary movies and call it a day?” He asked, going back to what he was cooking. Miranda scrunched her nose, trying again to figure out what it was before shaking her head.

 

She’d just casually mentioned wanting to do some fall activities with her fifteen year old cousin Sophia, whom she had gained guardianship of a year ago. They’d recently moved in with Negan, Miranda’s new boyfriend who just so happened to be Sophia’s softball coach and high school gym teacher. To say Sophia wasn’t handling it well would be an understatement. Sure she’d given her blessing and agreed to move in but she wasn’t all that thrilled about it. Her and Negan butted heads constantly and Miranda was just trying to get them to bond however she could. 

 

“It would mean a lot to her. She used to do this kind of shit with her mom and me all the time and if you made an effort--”

 

“God damn it, I hate when you use the dead mom card.” Negan groaned and turned to look at her. “Fine. Fucking fine. We’ll do your little bullshit fall family shit. But don’t go overboard.” He said and Miranda grinned, stepping on her toes to kiss him. He wrapped his free arm around her, rolling his eyes, and continued cooking. “If you weren’t so fucking cute…” He grumbled to himself, his hand sliding down to squeeze her ass and she laughed. 

  
  
  


 

She’d never admit it but when Miranda told her what she had planned, Sophia’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. Their favorite holiday had always been Halloween so they may have planned a bit more together than they probably should have. Considering Miranda  _ did _ promise Negan she wouldn’t go overboard. She decided she just wouldn’t drop it all on him at once. He still complained as he drove them to the pumpkin patch a whole town over, adjusting the red scarf he wore around his neck. 

 

“You know there’s a fucking pumpkin patch like five minutes from the house, right? Why do we have to go to this specific one?” Negan griped, fiddling with the radio again.

 

“Because this one’s nicer.” Miranda said as if it were obvious. He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue, finding them a parking spot. 

 

“C’mon Scraps,” Negan said, using the nickname he’d given Sophia ages ago after she got in a fight with another girl at school and came out on top. “Let’s pick us out a good one. I assume we’re gonna be carving these fuckers.” He said, huffing an ‘oof’ as Miranda elbowed him. He of course never noticed the dirty looks from the parents when he opened his big mouth but she did. And there were plenty of kids here.

 

Sophia sighed and walked ahead of them, taking her sweet time finding the perfect pumpkin. In his defense, he only complained a couple times when she was overly picky about the pumpkin she wanted. “It’s just gonna rot in like a week anyways. What does it matter?” He’d said and she made a face at him and kept looking. They picked out a couple that met her standards and he paid for them. He started walking back to the car when he realized they hadn’t followed. “What?” He asked, turning around to see them looking at a sign.

 

“I mean… I did say something about hayrides.” Miranda said, smirking over at her man. He stared at her for a minute, trying to decide if she was being serious. When he realized she absolutely was, he sighed. 

 

“Fine.  _ One _ ride.” He agreed and went to pay for that as well. 

 

“Why’s he gotta be such a grouch?” Sophia asked and Miranda snickered. 

 

“Don’t mind him. He’s just gotta get into the holiday spirit. He’ll come around.” She assured her and wrapped an arm around Sophia’s shoulders, leading her over to the hayride. Negan took his spot, his pumpkin sitting at his feet, with Miranda beside him and Sophia across from them. He ignored the other family that joined them and laced his fingers with Miranda’s without even thinking about it. He didn’t miss the way Sophia rolled her eyes though and he smirked at her.

 

“What’s a matter, Scrappy?” He teased, throwing a handful of hay at her. 

 

“Asshole!” Sophia gasped, brushing it out of her hair before throwing some at him as he laughed. She cheered as it got in his mouth and he sputtered it out. 

 

“Come on guys…” Miranda sighed, giving the mom of the two boys a sympathetic look for her cousin’s language. They didn’t listen to her though and spent the rest of the ride tossing hay at each other. At least Sophia was finally having a good time. 

 

It was almost worth the annoyed looks from the mom as her boys joined in. 

  
  


Later that night they set to carving the pumpkins, something Negan apparently took very seriously. “Hey, no! Don’t throw those out.” He complained as Sophia scooped a bunch of the goop out.

 

“What? Why? What are you supposed to do with it?” She asked Negan, looking at him like he was crazy.

 

“No, the seeds. Keep the seeds. We’ll roast them later.” He said and started helping her pick them out of her pumpkin mess. Miranda sneakily took pictures of them as Negan helped her draw a scary face on her pumpkin, laughing at the way his tongue poked out in concentration.

 

“No, he needs more teeth!” Sophia demanded and Negan scoffed.

 

“He? I didn’t know pumpkins had genitals. Should I give him a dick too?” He asked, getting an elbow to the ribs from Sophia. He merely grinned and added more teeth. He watched protectively as she carved the little blade through the pumpkin for a minute before moving onto his own, turning his gaze to his favorite girl with a warm smile as he decided this wasn’t so bad after all. 

  
  
  


 

A few days later, it was Miranda’s turn to say no.

 

“Hey, we did you’re fall shit, now it’s my turn.” Negan said over dinner that night. 

 

“Yeah but...a haunted house?” Miranda made a face but Sophia chimed in. 

 

“Yeah, we should go. It’d be cool.” She said, picking up her phone to look up times. She only managed to unlock it before Negan was snatching it out of her hands wordlessly. She sighed, remembering he didn’t like her on the phone at dinner. It was one of the few rules he had in his house that she’d agreed to so long as she could call him Negan instead of Coach. 

 

“Wait, you two actually  _ agree  _ on something?” Miranda asked, her eyes darting between the two of them. She sighed in defeat, not wanting to ruin the moment. It was so rare that they ever were on the same side of things, mostly due to Sophia’s insane need to disagree with everything he said like the good little angsty teen she was. “Fine. We’ll go. But I’m gonna hate both of you for this.” 

 

She watched in amazement as they actually high fived their victory. 

  
  
  


 

They went after dinner that Friday night, all bundled against the cold. Negan didn’t even complain about the half an hour drive out to what he claimed was the best haunted house in the area. Miranda tried to pretend like she was okay but she was nervous about the whole thing. She despised jump scares and that’s ninety percent of the whole haunted house experience. But it was for them and she would endure it.

 

It wasn’t long before she was clinging to Negan’s arm though, hiding her face against the leather he wore. He of course found that hilarious and goaded Sophia into teasing her too.

 

“Are you really scared? This is awesome!” Sophia grinned, her eyes lighting up with excitement over all the strategically placed props and monsters. She jumped occasionally but it was usually followed by bubbling laughter as she held Negan’s other arm. She would argue because it was dark and hard to maneuver. Not because she was scared or anything. 

 

“Yeah, seriously Miranda. This ain’t that fuckin’ scary.” Negan laughed. His laughter was cut short, however, as a chainsaw was started up beside them suddenly and he nearly pissed himself as he tugged the girls away. Then they were laughing again.

 

“God, I hate you guys.” Miranda groaned, her death grip on Negan’s arm only getting worse. They made it through eventually and Miranda breathed a sigh of relief as the fresh, cold air hit them again. She turned to see Negan and Sophia laughing together, gushing over all the shit they’d seen inside. 

 

“Did you see the zombies though? I think that one chick literally didn’t have an arm.” Negan grinned down at the girl.

 

“Yeah! I saw that. I mean, what a way to make use of an amputation.” Sophia chuckled, practically skipping to the car. “I wanna do my makeup like the girl in the nurse’s outfit. Do you think I could get away with that at school?” She asked, holding a hand up to her neck as she recalled the blood dripping down the nurse girl. 

 

Negan snorted. “Probably not but it’d be pretty badass. Too bad you’re too old for trick or treating.” He grinned and she frowned. “Maybe we could have a Halloween party or something. Something small.” He suggested with a shrug and she lit up. 

 

“Seriously?” She grinned, bouncing in excitement. They spent the entire drive home talking about the gruesome decorations they could put up inside and outside the house. Sophia didn’t even care that she’d be inviting all her friends over to their teacher’s place or think about how weird it might be. 

 

Miranda was so happy they were getting along that she felt the whole terrifying experience was worth it. Even if she hated every second of it herself. 

  
  


The next night, Negan came home from the store with a lot more groceries than he’d gone in for. 

 

“Did you shop on an empty stomach again?” Miranda sighed, starting to put things away and he chuckled. Last time he came back with way too many snacks.

 

“You say that like you didn’t indulge yourself and eat half my snack cakes.” Negan teased with a smirk and she shrugged, unashamed. “I walked by the bakery and they had pumpkin pies, which by the way are my favorite. I was gonna get one but homemade is always better.” He said, looking up at her. “I thought maybe I could teach Soph how to bake one.” He added with a shrug, a shred of vulnerability in his eyes that he tried to hide as he put things away. 

 

Miranda blinked, trying not to tear up at how sweet that was. “Yeah, I’m sure she’ll love that.” She said and kissed his cheek. 

 

“You, however, are staying the fuck out of my kitchen.” He said with a smirk and she stuck her tongue out at him. 

 

She didn’t stay out, however, when he had all the ingredients spread out before them. Instead she took pictures with her phone while they were too busy to notice, capturing the serious look of concentration on Sophia’s face as Negan told her what to do. 

 

They did the whole thing from scratch, the crust and all. And of course it was only a matter of time before Negan dotted Sophia’s cheeks with flour. What was surprising, however, was how Sophia just laughed it off and flicked specks of it over his black shirt. Thankfully they didn’t get in a full fledged flour fight that she would have inevitably had to clean up later because frankly they were both slobs. Instead they got back to it and Sophia was the perfect little helper, eating up everything Negan said. It was so unlike any interaction they ever had with each other that Miranda just watched in awe, sending a couple pictures of them to her parents. 

 

The pie, of course, came out amazing. She was surprised they didn’t eat the whole thing right away. 

 

They ended up curled up on the couch with Negan’s next brilliant idea while they ate. “Hey I did say scary movie night, did I not?” He argued when Miranda pouted. 

 

“You know, my ideas for fall fun were way more tame than yours.” She said but allowed it anyways, snuggling into Negan’s side. Sophia was so excited that she didn’t even roll her eyes or comment on the public display of affection like she normally would. 

 

“My mom never let me watch these. I used to have to sneak them over at Enid’s house.” She said, popping the first movie into the blu-ray player. 

 

“Well we’re gonna have to change that. There’s a long list of classic horror flicks we’ve gotta work through.” Negan said, ignoring Miranda’s groan. 

 

“Make sure you do that on nights I have to work, please.” She said and he smirked at her before beginning to scarf down his second slice of pie. 

 

Miranda ended up falling asleep with her head in his lap while they stayed up until three in the morning watching scary movies, laughing at the gore together and making fun of the people and their poor decision making. She woke up to Negan carrying her to bed and tugging off her jeans. 

 

“What time is it?” She muttered, burying her face in the pillow. 

 

“Uhh… almost four?” Negan said sheepishly. “Guess it’s a good thing we don’t have school tomorrow.” He chuckled, climbing in beside her. She blindly scooted over until she was wrapped up in his arms. He kissed the top of her head. “Good night, baby. Hope you don’t have any nightmares.” He teased with a grin.

 

“Fuck you, Negan.” 

  
  
  


 

A few days later, Sophia came home with a grocery bag herself after spending the day at Enid’s. Negan raised an eyebrow at it, looking up at her.

 

“What’s in the bag?” He asked skeptically. He took some satisfaction in the way her pale, freckled cheeks turned red as he waited for an explanation.

 

“Well I umm… I was thinking we could make some good use out of the fire pit out back…?” She suggested, pulling out a bag of marshmallows. Negan couldn’t stop the grin on his face if he tried.

 

“Fuck yeah, that may be the best idea you’ve ever had.” He teased and got up to get a fire going outside.

 

“ _ After  _ dinner.” Miranda declared, not even looking up from the book she was reading. Negan pouted.

 

“Buzzkill.” He grumbled, going to the kitchen instead to cook dinner for them. When it was nice and dark, not to mention chilly, outside, he went out and set it all up. They had a few folding chairs that they set up around the fire and huddled in close to the warmth. It was just cold enough at night but not too much that they were freezing their asses off. “No way Scraps. You want it to be cooked. Nice and brown.” Negan instructed.

 

“That’s not brown, that’s black. You burnt yours.” 

 

“God damn it.” Negan snapped, realizing she was right. He ate it anyways, nearly burning the inside of his mouth.

 

“You’re such a mess.” Miranda laughed, seeing the sticky marshmallow caught in his whiskers. She leaned forward, wiping it with her thumb. Of course, he couldn’t help himself even with present company.

 

“Why don’t you just lick it off, baby?” He said with a smirk.

 

“Ugh! You’re so gross!” Sophia pretended to gag and threw a marshmallow at him. 

 

“Hey!” Negan complained as it hit the ground. “Don’t be wasteful, Scrappy! If you’re gonna throw them, I better be able to catch it.” He said, tossing one into his mouth. She rolled her eyes and threw another one, this time waiting until he was ready for it. That turned into a competition between the two of them and him teaching her how to properly aim with a marshmallow, stating that “It’s not a fuckin’ softball, Scraps.”

 

Miranda had to stash a bag of marshmallows on the side so she could eat some for herself. 

  
  
  


 

They did indeed have a Halloween party like Negan promised. Miranda didn’t think he’d be able to get it all set up in time with so little time to plan ahead but he managed. She found that when he was determined he could actually get a lot done. And he was pretty handy. 

 

Plus she had a sneaking suspicion that he really wanted to make Sophia happy and that just made her heart swell. 

 

The house looked great and he let Sophia pick the music, despite his annoyance in her taste. But then she called him old and he threw a pillow at her and Miranda had to separate them again. She helped Sophia with her costume, looking up videos on how to make the creepy throat-slit makeup she wanted so badly. They settled on a dead rock star instead though because Miranda didn’t like the length of the nurse costumes she found. 

 

She and Negan stayed for the party. They’d originally promised to stay out of the way while still keeping an eye on things but the kids kept trying to get Negan to join in on the festivities. He ended up out back with them playing cornhole and teasing the kids for not being as good as him. Sophia didn’t even seem to mind, kind of proud that he blended so well with her friends rather than trying to embarrass her. 

 

“This is going well.” Miranda said as he came back in to make more of the creepy slime colored punch, taste testing it for the thousandth time to make sure no little asshole tried to spike it. 

 

“Yeah. It ain’t that bad.” He said, his eyes sweeping the room again from the kitchen. Miranda thought he was making sure the kids were behaving themselves but then his hand was on her ass, up under the skirts of her dress. “And you look sexy as fuck tonight, did I mention that?” He smirked at her, giving it a squeeze. 

 

“A few times.” She said with a chuckle and pushed his hand away. 

 

“Maybe you could leave the costume on later.” He grinned at her, leaning against the counter. 

 

“You want the fangs too?” She smirked, as if she hadn’t already taken them off earlier. They were more uncomfortable than she thought they’d be. 

 

“Fuck yeah I do.” Negan gave her a quick kiss, swatting her ass as he left the kitchen. He went out back to throw more firewood in the pit but stopped in his tracks, his blood boiling. 

 

It was a strange feeling, something he never encountered before. The closest emotion that he could think of was jealousy but he knew that wasn’t it. No this was something deeper. A kind of anger that he knew he had no right to feel but as he watched Benjamin awkwardly put his arm around Sophia’s shoulders, he saw red. 

 

“You okay?” Miranda asked him, stepping up beside him. He tore his gaze away to scowl at Miranda.

 

“How long’s that been going on?” He demanded.

 

“What are you--oh! Well isn’t that cute?” Miranda chuckled as she realized what he’d been looking at.

 

“Cute? The fuck? That’s not cute. I have half a mind to go beat that kid’s ass.” Negan growled.

 

“What? No, this is a good thing. Sophia’s been crushing on him for weeks. We’re happy for her.” Miranda tried to reason with him but he wasn’t having it. “What’s wrong? Why are you so upset?”

 

“Because that boy has his hands on my girl, that’s why.” Negan snapped, mindful enough to keep his voice down.

 

“Your girl?” Miranda looked at him in surprise, her heart exploding. “Okay,  _ dad _ , calm down.” She chuckled and took his hand, resisting the urge to smother him. She was dying to know how long he’d seen Sophia like a daughter. 

 

“Whatever. I’m gonna have a talk with that boy.” He decided, fully intending on scaring him off. 

 

“Later.” Miranda squeezed his hand, stopping him from stomping over there and embarrassing Sophia. “Another day. You don’t wanna ruin her party.” 

 

Negan sighed, knowing she was right. Sophia would be so pissed at him if he called out Ben in front of everyone. “Alright, fine. But I’m keeping an eye on them.” 

 

Miranda beamed and hugged him tight, kissing his cheek. She was so in love with this man. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Be sure to review and check out my tumblr @annablack1102


End file.
